Your Providence Public Library

Providence Public Library is an essential agency of public education and crucial to the infrastructure of the Rhode Island community. We are one of the few major libraries in the United States that is a private not-for-profit institution governed by a Board of Directors, giving us the flexibility to respond to community need rapidly and effectively. More...

Russell DeSimone, a Dorr Rebellion scholar, will present a new documentary film on the Dorr Rebellion followed by a lecture on the subject. Led by Providence reformer Thomas W. Dorr in 1842, the rebellion was an unsuccessful attempt at constitutional reform and expanded voting rights and although it took place in Rhode Island, it had a national impact. The question raised was whether the people acting in their own capacity have the right to change their government without the approval of the General Assembly. The rebellion illuminates aspects of race, gender, slavery, immigration and reform.

Russell J. DeSimone is a bibliophile and independent scholar. He is the compiler of Broadsides of the Dorr Rebellion (1992), and author of The Dorr Rebellion Chronicled in Ballads and Poetry (1993), A Survey of Nineteenth Century Rhode Island Billheads (2002), Rhode Island Election Tickets: a Survey (2007), Rhode Island’s Rebellion (2009) and recently co-wrote the text for the documentary film The Dorr Rebellion. As a native Rhode Islander he has been a lifelong student of its history. He is now retired from both the defense industry and as an adjunct professor at the University of Rhode Island library where he curated numerous exhibitions drawn mainly from his collections including “A Survey of 19th Century Rhode Island Billheads”, “Rhode Island Lotteries – Three Centuries of History”, “Voting and the Spirit of Democracy”, “Picturesque Rhode Island” and in 2005 “Thomas Wilson Dorr – A Bicentennial Birthday Tribute”.

Parking is available at the Providence Hilton Parking Garage, $3/3 hours. Bring your ticket with you for validation.